Collecting niche game genres.

[jvalentine98]

Fighting games are usually cheaper than RPG and Survival Horror. RPG games are literally the price of gold.

But...games like Mortal Kombat Trilogy or Marvel vs Capcom, or the Rivals Schools games can get expensive

[dsheinem]

is someone gonna tell this guy those aren't genres?

[Ack]

is someone gonna tell this guy those aren't genres?

Survival horror is too a genre!

[BoneSnapDeez]

is someone gonna tell this guy those aren't genres?

I was waiting for someone else to do it.

[dsheinem]

is someone gonna tell this guy those aren't genres?

Survival horror is too a genre!

not you. The OP, chief.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Is survival horror really a "genre" though? I always thought it was more of a setting. A game like Amnesia is an action-adventure game while something like Dead Space is a shooter - two totally different styles of play yet both are "survival horror."

Sites like GameFAQs and RFGen list survival horror as a "subgenre" for what it's worth.

[Ack]

Is survival horror really a "genre" though? I always thought it was more of a setting. A game like Amnesia is an action-adventure game while something like Dead Space is a shooter - two totally different styles of play yet both are "survival horror."

Sites like GameFAQs and RFGen list survival horror as a "subgenre" for what it's worth.

The trouble with survival horror is that it is one of the only genres based around emotion as opposed to mechanics. Hence why its games can be so mechanically diverse while still doing their best to instill the same emotional response.

And sure, it's technically considered a subgenre of "action/adventure". So are first person shooters, fighters, beat 'em ups, third person shooters, platformers, etc. Heck, consider racing games, boxing games, football games, wrestling games, which are technically all subgenres of the sports genre of video games.

[prfsnl_gmr]

I think there is a clear distinction between "horror" games and "survival horror" games. Any game with serious "horror" elements falls into the first category, but only games that emphasize flight over combat, item preservation, etc. fall into the "survival horror" category. (In other words, Resident Evil 4 is a "horror" game, but "Resident Evil" is a "survival horror" game.

[Ack]

I think there is a clear distinction between "horror" games and "survival horror" games. Any game with serious "horror" elements falls into the first category, but only games that emphasize flight over combat, item preservation, etc. fall into the "survival horror" category. (In other words, Resident Evil 4 is a "horror" game, but "Resident Evil" is a "survival horror" game.

Sure, I can see that distinction, but even then there is not a single coherent form. Survival horror was at one point considered to be third-person shooters with an emphasis on puzzles and tank controls thanks to the likes of Alone in the Dark, Resident Evil, and Silent Hill, but in truth there have been games in a variety of mechanics-based genres that conform to such a definition of survival horror. For instance, there have been RPGs (Sweet Home, Koudelka, Parasite Eve), point and clicks (Clock Tower series), first person action/adventure games (Michigan, Echo Night, Outlast, D, the Penumbra series), third person action/adventure games (Clock Tower 3, Rule of Rose, Haunting Ground, Haunted House), FMVs (The Fear), open-world FPS (S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series), etc., which all adhere to this definition.

[jvalentine98]

Let's see guys Resident Evil came out in 1996, so that's 18 years people and companies have been using the term Survival Horror.

When people say survival horror, most people think, "Oh, it's like Resident Evil, or Silent Hill." Or at least they did until RE became all out action.

Survival horror is as much as genre as strategy RPGS or anything else.